The Trinity; The Spectacle; Jewish Foods; In Praise of Purity; Letters (The Fathers of the Church 67)

After Novatian's break with the Church over the treatment of
Christians who had lapsed in the persecution of Decius (A.D. 250-52),
Church authorities were reluctant to recognize officially his
contributions to Christian theology. Because his writings were too
valuable to ignore, a number of them were attributed to less
controversial authors. On the basis of stylistic and other internal
evidence, scholars have been able to retrieve Novatian's work from
obscurity and to give him recognition as a pioneer of Roman Latin
theology.

This volume presents translations of all Novatian's
surviving writings, which appear together in English for the first time
under their author's name. The collection opens with the work that most
clearly defines him as a theologian of central importance: The Trinity. This treatise refuted current heresies concerning Christ's dual nature and God's total spirituality.

The collection also contains a trilogy of pastoral letters: In Praise of Purity, The Spectacles, and Jewish Foods.
Novatian, absent from his community, writes to his adherents about
current problems in Christian morality and encourages them to remain
faithful to the Gospel. In the three Letters, written to
Cyprian Bishop Carthage after the martyrdom of Pope Fabian, Novatian
speaks for the Church at Rome. They are an important source for the
study of Penance as practiced by the early Church. Novatian insisted
that those who had denied Christ during the persecution should be most
strictly dealt with. There is little in him of Cyprian's conciliatory
tone. Novatian's Letters illumine a third-century controversy that offers new perspectives for modern re-examination of the sacrament.